


Names and Dust

by marikunin



Series: Renascence [1]
Category: Bible - Fandom, His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Daemons, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-22
Updated: 2015-11-22
Packaged: 2018-05-02 19:02:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5260091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marikunin/pseuds/marikunin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam named the animals. Then animals became part of people too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Names and Dust

**Author's Note:**

> My first work on AO3! I've had this idea in my head for quite some time, so tell me what y'all think. Also I pronounce daemon as "day mon", not "demon". Plus in this story it'd be kind of awkward...

It all started in a garden.

Newly created, the first man stood among the plants and animals. There was a light sheen of gold everywhere, and it surrounded him like a personal cloud. He seemed to have more than the myriad of creatures with him, he thought as he stroked the soft fur of a long eared creature that was nibbling on some fruit. Its nose was twitching.

His Maker had created all these animals in the point of finding the Man a helper of some kind. Someone equal to him. But while he named all the creatures he shared the garden with, he still didn't feel right.

The cloud of...well, Dust, wasn't helping either. There was so much. The only Being that had more Dust than the Man was his Maker. Something strange had occurred when he named the animals too. As he gave each their new name, a light had appeared in their eyes. It was as if they had a little bit of Dust around them too. Since then, the Dust around the Man had only gotten thicker. He lay down on a green patch of grass closing his eyes. If only this Dust was manageable...

He only closed his eyes for what seemed like a moment. But when he did, the Man noticed he was no longer alone. The Dust around him was gone. Instead, a bright golden cat-a lioness, he had called it-was next to him with intelligent eyes. Then to his astonishment, the lioness changed! She turned into a brightly colored bird, then an insect that resembled a stick. He felt like it was a part of him, a feeling that only increased as it-she-shifted again, this time into a large ape with a colorful face and held his hand.

There was also another human. She was... **wow**. A similar creature made of Dust was next to her, currently in the form of a sleek white bird. Without thinking, he stroked the beautiful feathers. The...the other human giggled and scratched the top of the man's creatures head. It made him feel all tingly and happy inside.

The other human was a woman, for she had been taken out of the man. And the creatures that were somehow a part of them but separate from them were called daemons. Everything was perfect. There was no pain, no strife, no death. At least not yet.

Everything changed when the Woman met the serpent.

While the Man and his daemon watched, the Woman bit into the fruit that they'd been forbidden to eat. It was sweet, with a bitter aftertaste that lingered once it went down her throat. She saw her reflection in the Man's eyes and noticed her face was stained.

"Want some?

Perhaps he felt left out. Perhaps he was just curious. But either way, the Man took the fruit as well. Something shifted inside, and then things felt...off. The Man turned to his daemon, confused as to why she hadn't changed since he ate the fruit. She was massive, with large horns and powerful muscles.

A growing sense of horror spread through him. She couldn't change. **She couldn't change.**

"Come on, friend! You can change, right? Just do it!"

It had happened to the Woman and her companion, too. In an attempt to help, the Man reached over to stroke his mates daemon and recoiled when the Woman let out a piercing scream.

"Don't touch him! Don't **ever** touch him!"

He felt lost. He opened his mouth to reply, but that was when their Maker came and they had to hide.

Things only went downhill from there. The three of them-Man, Woman and serpent-were all punished. Their daemons couldn't change anymore. The Man-Adam-would have to work to survive, and the Woman-Eve-would suffer pain in childbirth. And the serpent? The serpent lost his arms and legs. This was when Adam and Eve finally named their daemons. Eve's daemon became Achim, and Adam's became Lahahana. Their Maker gave them animal skins to wear and then they left the Garden, never to return.

~

"Ready to sacrifice to our Maker, Cain?"

"Yeah, yeah, let's get this over with. You go first, I still have some fruit to pick."

Abel nodded and took an extremely plump, wooly sheep up onto the hill where their family made sacrifices. Now that their daemons were settled, they were considered men. Cain took this time to look over his basket of fruit and vegetables. Some were bruised and one or two were a bit over ripe, but what was the big deal? He was still sacrificing, right? And it wasn't like their Maker needed to eat! As Abel returned from the sacrificial hill, blood and dirt staining his clothes, Cain gave him a nod.

"How'd it go?"

"Great! The Maker loved my and Bartosz's sacrifice!"

Cain smiled in return but then dropped it as soon as his brother and daemon were out of earshot. He and Atarah shared long suffering looks. Of course the golden boy was accepted. Everything always went easy for him!

"Cain? Cain, the sacrifice!"

"Oh, right! Come on, lets go before our Maker notices."

~

Cain boiled over with rage. What was so bad about his sacrifice? Abel's was accepted by the Maker, so why wasn't his? He should've been happy he'd given anything to Him at all. Atarah walked next to him, fur stiff with their combined aggravation. Seeing one of his younger sisters, Cain waved her over. Her daemon turned from a marmoset into a flightless bird that snuggled in her arms.

"Have you seen Abel and Bartosz?"

His sister pointed away from their home. So Abel was out in the fields with his freak daemon. With each step, his anger grew. Sure, the Maker had told him to control himself, but what would that do? He still wouldn't accept Cain's sacrifice. As he climbed the hill, Cain saw his brother. He and Bartosz were laughing together as they herded some sheep towards the well. When their eyes met, Cain's vision went red. He picked up a rock from the ground and strode forward, Atarah beginning to growl. Abel looked up, smiled and opened his mouth to greet Cain-and fell, blood trickling from his forehead. Bartosz began fluttering around in distress, calling his human's name. What if someone heard?! Atarah read Cain's thoughts and snapped her jaws, just as her human's arm began to tire. Bartosz exploded into Dust. Blood stained Cain's hands and Atarah's muzzle was stained with what remained of Bartosz.

He and Atarah were forced to wander for the rest of their lives.

The Maker blessed Eve, though. She and Adam had another son, Seth. He had a male daemon too, just like dearly departed Abel. When he was born, Dust shone in his chest before forming a tiny ball of fluff on his fragile chest. His daemon was Jozsef, because God raised up another son for the one Adam and Eve had lost.

The beginnings of humanity and their daemons showed common and not so common trends. A daemon would stop changing at some point after a human's body began to change into an adult one, thoufh the age always was individual. Usually people had a daemon the opposite sex as themselves, though occasionally they'd have same sex daemons. Sometimes, someone even had a daemon that wasn't male or female. And when someone died, the person's daemon would turn back to Dust.

**Author's Note:**

> Daemons in the story:
> 
> Adam: musk ox, Lahahana, female, warmth provided by the sun  
> Eve: maned wolf, Achim, male, constructed by God  
> Cain: spotted hyena, Atarah, female, crown  
> Abel: mourning dove, Bartosz, male, rich in land  
> Seth: bolivian squirrel monkey, Jozsef, male, God raises


End file.
